Occupy Your Life - Put Your Money Where It Matters

Something that keeps coming to mind with all of the Occupy Everywhere protests is curiosity about where people are keeping their money. Regardless of how little you have, it seems to me that it (and you) are much better served in a local bank which invests in your own community.

I was excited to receive an email from the Social Venture Network talking about the Move Your Money Project and Bank Transfer Day, November 5th, 2011.

Here is an excerpt from their website:

Moving your money out of the big Wall Street banks to small community banks and credit unions is a great idea for a number of reasons:

• you will get better rates and fewer fees
• your comunity banker will learn your name and provide you with more personal service
• you will be keeping money in your local community which increases economic development and eventually, creates more jobs. 

Yet the most important reason to move your money is to make your voice heard, to stand strong and no longer help a banking system that has run amok. 

INVEST IN MAIN STREET, NOT WALL STREET

When you keep your money in a local financial institution, that money in turn is reinvested in local businesses, which is important for building a stable economy and encouraging local growth. Put your money in the big Wall Street banks however, and they will use your deposits to make risky investments, gambling at the expense of the economy as a whole.

An important call-to-action that came up during that meeting is the "Move Your Money Project,"  also known as Bank Transfer Day, November 5th, 2011.  If you haven't already, we encourage you to move your money this week and put your assets in financial institutions that have a social mission that’s aligned with your values.

Here's a partial list of financial organizations to consider:
•    Calvert Group 
•    Domini Social Investments 
•    Ocean Endowment Partners
•    New Resource Bank
•    RSF Social Finance 
•    SocialK 
•    Sunrise Community Banks 
•    Trillium Asset Management 
•    Vancity

Late addition: just found this on Facebook (so you know it's true!)

Thanks for reading.

Love,
Alline